Court cases

On December 18, 2023, East Coast Mobile Services Inc., pleaded guilty to violating paragraph 43(1)(f) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act by failing to immediately notify WorkSafeNB of a workplace injury.

The charge stemmed from an incident on July 18, 2022, when an employee’s hand was lacerated because of improper lockout procedure. The employee, who had only begun work with the employer on July 11, did not receive employee orientation or lockout training.

East Coast Mobile Industrial Services did not notify WorkSafeNB until 11 days following the incident. The company was fined $3,000.

On November 30, 2023, CPM Carnahan Property Management Ltd., was fined $11,000 for violating 9(1)(a) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing to ensure competent supervision.

The charge stems from an incident on June 28, 2022, in which six employees sustained injuries, and two of these six were admitted to hospital.

CPM was a sub-contractor on a commercial complex build. CPM employees were working under a live load of a freshly poured concrete floor when it collapsed.

On May 30, 2023, Ébénisterie TechDesign Woodworking Inc., was fined $5,000 plus $1,000 victim surcharge for violating 9(1)(a) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing to take every reasonable precaution to ensure their employees’ health and safety.

The charge stems from an incident on August 9, 2021. Three employees were unwrapping slabs of quartz when the slabs fell and struck a worker’s leg, trapping it beneath the slab. The worker’s injuries were so severe that the leg eventually had to be amputated. The employer did not have any procedure nor did the employees have any training for the work being done. 

On March 6, 2023, Richard Bartlett was fined $1,000 under paragraph 33(a) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act for obstructing a health and safety officer in the exercise of his powers or duties under this Act by preventing him from entering the property.

The fine is a result of an incident on May 12, 2022, when a WorkSafeNB health and safety officer visited Bartlett Memorials in Saint John regarding a complaint about potential unsafe work conditions. The officer met with Bartlett, who is the owner, and informed him of the complaint and the requirement to enter the premises to investigate. Bartlett refused the officer entry and demanded that the officer leave the workplace, despite being advised of the consequences of failing to comply with the Act.

On March 7, 2023, Weibe Hardware was fined $15,000 and a $3,000 victim fine surcharge for violating subsection 289(1) of the General Regulation (91-191) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, for failing to ensure that an unqualified employee does not carry out any work requiring a person or object to be closer than 3.6 m to an energized electrical utility line.

The charges are a result of a fatal incident on Oct. 6, 2021. The employee had delivered pallets of wood pellets to a residence with a boom truck. The employee was standing on the ground while operating a boom to lift the pallets, when the boom came into contact with a 7200 volt power line.  The employee was electrocuted and pronounced dead at the scene.

The employer did not have a work procedure or training for working around power lines.

On February 1, 2023, Snokist Ltd. was fined $4,000 and an $800 victim fine surcharge for violating General Regulation 91-191 under the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing to establish a written lock out procedure for a machine.

The charge stemmed from an incident February 10, 2021, in which a worker lifted the cover of a hydraulically-operated wood splitter and reached inside to shift a piece of wood. The splitter’s  knife came out and cut four  fingers and half of the worker’s thumb. Reports showed the employer bought the splitter a couple weeks before the accident and had provided overview training, but the employer did not have any training records, a work procedure, or a lock-out procedure for the machine.

On January 30, 2023, Hanson’s Sawmill & Affordable Cedar Log Homes was fined $5,000, for violating section 43(1)(g) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing to notify WorkSafeNB after an employee was injured and admitted to hospital as an in-patient.

The charge stems from an incident on June 7, 2021, when concrete forms fell on a Hanson’s employee while working at a private residence. Two employees removed the forms overtop the employee, who was then placed in the back seat of a pick-up truck and driven to hospital. Once at the hospital, Hayward was placed in a wheelchair and left in the emergency room lobby. The employee suffered multiple fractures and was hospitalized for more than one month while recovering from surgeries.

Hanson’s did not report the incident to WorkSafeNB and denied even having knowledge of it. However, WorkSafeNB investigators were able to corroborate enough facts to verify that the accident did happen and that  the company was aware of it.

On Nov 24, Moosehead Breweries was fined $7,500 for violating paragraph 11(b) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, for failing to take every reasonable precaution to ensure the health and safety of any person at its workplace.

The incident happed on September 22, 2021.

Moosehead failed to inform contractors that there was a power line in a concrete wall.

While drilling holes to fix cracks in a retaining wall, a contractor punctured a 15kv power line. Luckily there were no injuries.

The brewery lost power for several hours and incurred significant financial loss.

On October 13, 2022, New Brunswick Power Corporation pleaded guilty for violating subsection 10(b) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing to take every reasonable precaution to ensure the health and safety of anyone on the project site.

The charge was the result of a fatal accident that occurred in Belledune on January 27, 2020.

NB Power was sentenced to 30 days’ probation with several conditions, including a donation of $115,000 (alternative sentencing) to the New Brunswick Community College Foundation Inc., to establish the Louis Gagnon Carpentry Bursary, in memory of Louis Gagnon. The scholarship will benefit carpentry students who demonstrate an understanding and commitment to workplace safety and whose hometown is in northern New Brunswick.

Sunny Corner Enterprises Inc., was also charged in this incident and were fined $70,000, plus a victim surcharge of $14,000.

On August 29, 2022, Rockwood Transportation Co. Ltd., was fined a total of $4,800 for violating 242(1) of General Regulation 91-191 under the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing to provide adequate safeguards for a driveshaft.

The charge stems from an incident on October 18, 2021, in which a worker was pulled into a tractor driveshaft when his jacket got caught in it. The worker suffered serious injuries, including a broken neck, collapsed lung, and liver, spleen, and nerve damage, that left him in a coma for several days.

On August 29, 2022, Thermalite Products was fined a total of $3,600 for failing to ensure that supervisors have sufficient knowledge of the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act and its applicable regulations, in violation of paragraph 9(2)(c.3)(i) of the OHS Act.

The charge stems from an incident on June 7, 2021, that was not reported until three days later. An employee suffered a partial finger amputation when, on his first shift, he came into contact with the unguarded gap on a machine that makes Styrofoam containers. The worker was shown how to use the machine by a supervisor but was not informed of the hazards.

On August 29, 2022, Al’s Forestry and Trucking was fined a total of $1,500 for a violation under paragraph 43(1)(b) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing to notify WorkSafeNB after an employee suffered an injury resulting in amputation.

The charge stems from an incident on February 11, 2021, when a 16-foot log fell on a worker’s leg from a B-Train trailer as it was being loaded. The incident was only reported to WorkSafeNB on February 22, 2021.

On July 18, 2022,  Sunny Corner Enterprise was fined for violating subsection 9(2)(c.3)(i) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing to ensure that work was competently supervised and that supervisors had sufficient knowledge of all matters within their scope of duties. They were fined $70,000, plus a victim surcharge of $14,000.

The charge stems from a fatal accident on January 27, 2020  at NB Power in Belledune, when a worker was struck in the chest by a sheave when a concrete anchor failed.

On July 5, 2022, Marwood Ltd., was fined $7,000, plus a victim surcharge of $1,400 for violating sec 242(1) of General Regulation 91-191 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing to provide adequate machine safeguards.

The charge stems from an incident on August 9, 2021 when an employee was using an air hose to clean an edger machine. The air hose made contact with two large rollers, sucking the hose in with so much force and speed that the employee did not have time to let go of the hose. The employee’s hand was lodged in between the two rollers, resulting in deep lacerations and a partial amputation of the thumb.

There was no lockout procedure for the edger and the rollers were not guarded.

On March 28, 2022, Suncoast Seafood was fined $1,000 for violating sec 239(3)(b)of General Regulation 91-191 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing to have a written lock out procedure for a machine.

The charge stems from an incident on September 14, 2021, in which a worker’s hand was caught in a machine while the worker was cleaning it. The worker suffered two crushed fingers.

On February 8, 2022, Sophia Fougère was convicted of fraud against WorkSafeNB under sec 380(1)(b)(i) of the Criminal Code.

Fougère received a six-month conditional sentence, including four months of 24-hour house arrest followed  by a two-month curfew of 9 p.m.-6 a.m. She was ordered to immediately pay restitution of $4,474.85 to WorkSafeNB and was fined a victim impact surcharge of $100.

On December 14, 2021, Marwood Ltd., pleaded guilty to failing to provide adequate safeguards to prevent an employee from coming contact with a sprocket and a chain, in violation of section 242(1) of the General Regulation (91-191) under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

The charge stems from an incident on January 22, 2020, in which a worker’s hand was crushed.

The worker was receiving and piling prefabricated fence panels. When a fence panel became lodged near the exit point of a flipper/ conveyor system, the worker and a co-worker tried to dislodge the panel by hand by pulling the panel out toward them. When this was not successful, the worker reached under the conveyor with his right hand to try and dislodge the panel by pushing it upward. In the process, his hand contacted a large gear sprocket, crushing it. A grinder was required to cut the chain off the sprocket to relieve the pressure and free the worker, who was transferred to hospital by ambulance where he underwent surgery.

Marwood Ltd., was fined $7,000 plus a victim surcharge of $1,400.

On December 14, 2021, Marwood Ltd., pleaded guilty to violating section 9(1)(a) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act by failing to take every reasonable precaution to ensure the health and safety of their employees working on, with, or around a conveyor. This failure resulted in an employee’s death.

The charge stemmed from an incident on February 1, 2020, when a worker was crushed under a one-ton tote.  

In December 2019, Marwood had built a storage area for totes containing chemicals used in their wood treatment plant. The engineering department made a drawing for a roll case deck to be installed in the storage area that would  allow the employees to easily move the totes inside the storage area.

When the design was sent to the shop for construction, the shop realized they had similar decks and rollers in their scrap area, and since the deck specifications  were similar to the specifications in the drawing they recycled and installed the two roll cases.

However, once the installation was completed they realized that moving the totes was difficult, so they added bolts to the end of every second roller. This allowed the employees to use a wrench to rotate the rollers.

When the first tote was placed on the rollers the employees noticed that the weight of the tote exceeded the capacity of the aluminum frame when the frame bent. Therefore, the engineering department designed pallets, which the shop built for the totes. When the pallets were designed the only factor considered was the width of the totes -  the totes’ weight and spacing of the rollers was overlooked.

On February 1, 2021, the deceased and his supervisor were moving a tote on the roll case. They reached a point where the tote couldn’t be moved with a wrench, so the worker stepped in between the rollers to push the tote while the supervisor turned the wrench. At this point, the worker was where the two role cases were welded together and over the only area that had a 18 ½” opening.

The front part of the pallet crossed the opening, but when the back side of the pallet came off the roller the weight caused the tote to flip/fall backward toward the worker, crushing him under the tote.

Marwood Ltd., was fined $85,000, plus a victim surcharge of $17,000.

On August 19, 2021, J. Leblanc Enterprise (2012) LTD., pleaded guilty to failing to provide an orientation specific to a new employee’s position before the employee began work. They were charged under section 8.2(2) of the OHS Act.

The charge is a result of an incident on February 5, 2021, when J. Leblanc Enterprise was on site at a recycling facility at the Port of Saint John, delivering a load of crushed cars. A new employee was on top of the tractor trailer containing the crushed cars when he fell approximately 12 feet while trying to release the tiedown cables that secured the load. The worker sustained multiple rib and collar bone fractures.

The recycler had a fall protection system available to truck drivers. This information was shared with J. Leblanc Enterprise, but J. Leblanc Enterprise failed to provide that information to the new employee. J. Leblanc Enterprise was fined $1,500.

On June 16, 2021, POLOBU TIRE Inc. (operating as OK Tire), of Saint-Quentin, was fined $2,500 for violating section 9(1)(a) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing to take every reasonable precaution to ensure employee health and safety.

The charge is a result of an incident on October 2, 2019, in which the owner of OK Tire was repairing a large garage door motor. To access the motor, the owner asked an employee to use a forklift to lift a pallet that the owner was standing  on, from where he conducted the repairs. After the repairs were done, the owner fell approximately 2.5 metres. The owner did not follow forklift platform requirements to have personal fall protection or a platform with a guardrail.

In determining the amount of the fine, the judge considered the fact that the employer has only two employees, and that it was the owner himself who was injured and not a worker.

After pleading guilty on March 22, 2021, Schenkel’s Farm Inc., was fined $21,600 on April 9 for violating paragraph 9(1)(a) of the Occupational Health Safety Act for failing to identify a silo as a confined space.

The charge results from an incident on October 7, 2019, when a worker was found dead outside the silo. He had been working alone and the employer had not identified the hazards of working in a confined space.

On January 7, 2021, Northwest Roofers was fined $6,000 for violating paragraph 9(1)(c) of the Occupational Health Safety Act for failing to provide fall protection equipment to its employees.

The charges resulted from two separate violations in September 2020, when employees were observed working without fall protection. 

On December 4, 2020, District Scolaire Francophone Nord-Est was fined $125,000 for violating 49(1)(a)(i) of General Regulation 91-191 under the OHS Act for failing to provide a fall protection to its employees.

The charges resulted from a fatal accident on April 12, 2019. Two employees were repairing a ventilation system at the Ecole Cité-de-L’Amitié in Bathurst, when one of them took a step back and fell off the roof, approximately 5.16 metres. The employees were not using a fall protection system.

In her decision, Judge Brigitte Sivret determined that the lack of a health and safety program resulted in the worker’s death. She noted that the lack of a H&S program was directly linked to the absence of fall protection equipment and the lack of fall protection knowledge by the employees and direct supervisors.

On October 6, 2020, David Ernst, a founder of Terra Beata Processing Ltd., pleaded guilty to knowingly giving false information to a health and safety officer and ignoring a stop-work order. Ernst was operating one of the company’s cranberry processing plants in Sackville.

He entered a guilty plea to two charges:
Under section 33(b) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, to wit: did knowingly give false information to an officer.  He received  a $5,000 fine;
Under section 9.1(1)(b) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, by failing to comply with a stop-work order. He received a $3,000 fine.

On November 15, 2019, WorkSafeNB issued a stop-work order to the plant because oxygen levels were found to be below 15.9% in a cold storage area. The OHS Act requires an area’s oxygen levels to be at least 19.5% - otherwise appropriate breathing equipment is required to enter.

On February 6, 2020 a WorkSafeNB health and safety officer followed up on an anonymous tip that the stop-work order was being ignored. Ernst attempted to deceive the officer by emailing a photo showing the oxygen levels at 19.6%; however, the officer could see that the photo was of levels outside the cold storage area and that a second level should have been shown, over which Ernst had placed a sticker to conceal it. It was also discovered that Ernst had asked employees to enter the cold storage area without the proper breathing equipment when levels were too low.

 On July 29, 2020, Du-Rep Entreprises Ltée., pleaded guilty to a charge under section 9(1)(a) of the OHS Act for failing to take every reasonable precaution to ensure employee health and safety. 

The charge was laid after an incident on July 22, 2019. Du-Rep Construction was building a garage, with the company’s owner working from a scissor lift. To access a location, the owner installed a plank at the end of the scissor lift’s platform and asked an employee to stand at one end while he worked.  Later that day, the owner climbed onto the plank but forgot to ask the employee to stand at the other end; without the other employee’s counterbalance weight, the plank tipped and the owner fell almost 3.7 metres, suffering  a concussion and broken ribs.

Du-Rep was fined $1,200.

On June 16, 2020, the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DTI) pleaded guilty to a charge under section 102(2)(b) of General Regulation 91-191 under the OHS Act for failing to provide a guardrail at open sides and open ends of the surface of a bridge from which an employee may fall 1.2 metres or more. 

The charge was laid after an incident on August 28, 2019, that claimed the life of a DTI employee who  fell 3.35m off a bridge under construction onto rocks of the riverbed below.  DTI had been installing a deck on the bridge and had fitted a piece of 2x6 board as a bump rail. The worker fell when the bump rail failed as he sat on it. He was transported to hospital where he later died.

The regulation required a guard rail to be installed and the “bump rail” did not meet the legal requirements. In addition to the missing guardrail, the investigation also uncovered significant issues with health and safety; lack of clear direction for employees; lack of supervision; and, lack of adequate training and accountability.  Meetings were held between WorkSafeNB and DTI upper management to discuss findings and provide help to improve their health and safety.

DTI was fined $125,000 on July 15, 2020.

On June 11, 2020, Envirem Organics Inc., pleaded guilty to a charge under section 252(2) of the General Regulation 91-191 under the OHS Act for failing to ensure that an inclined belt and associated components were adequately guarded. 

The charge was laid after an investigation into an incident on February 20, 2019, when an employee suffered serious injuries. The employee was adjusting a newly installed belt on an operational conveyor and, while adjusting the belt  his left arm made contact  with the unguarded pulley. The employee suffered multiple injuries, including broken bones, a dislocated shoulder, , several fractures to the wrist and hand, paralysis from the middle of the upper arm and ligament and nerve damage.

Envirem Organics Inc., was fined $6,000.

​On April 15, 2020, Irving Oil Limited pleaded guilty to a charge under subsection 9 (1)(a) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing to take every reasonable precaution to ensure employee health and safety.

The charge resulted from an explosion at the refinery in Saint John on October 18, 2018. The cause of the incident was an area of localized corrosion in a reactor effluent pipe. The most serious physical injury was a broken heel bone.

Irving Oil was fined $200,000.

On February 20, 2020, Thermopak Ltée., pleaded guilty to a charge under 239(3) of General Regulation 91-191 under the OHS Act for failing to ensure to establish a written lockout procedure for a machine.

Charges were laid following an accident on June 8, 2018 in which a Thermopak employee was conducting a process change on a machine. During the adjustment, the employee’s hand was detected by the motion sensor, activating the machine sequence, and the employee’s hand was crushed. The machine was stopped but not locked out; the employer did not have a lock out procedure for that specific machine.

Thermopak Ltée., was fined $3,000.

On January 16, 2020, Northrup and Sons (doing business as Leon’s) was sentenced after previously pleading guilty in 2019 to a charge under subsection 9(2)(a1) of the OHS Act for failing to conduct monthly inspections.

In relation to the same incident, Dan Charlton, a supervisor with Northrup and Sons pleaded guilty to a charge under subsection 9(2)(d) of the OHS Act for failing to provide and maintain in good condition the protective equipment and to ensure the employee uses that equipment. 

The charges were laid following an incident On February 26, 2018, in which a warehouse employee was left alone by Charlton in an overflow warehouse (the company owned a main warehouse and an overflow warehouse), and was later found on the floor, bleeding. The investigation found that the worker fell from a forklift platform, was not wearing fall protection, as required, and the overflow warehouse had not been inspected, leading to unsafe practices and equipment used in the overflow warehouse that were not allowed in the main warehouse.

The worker suffered a significant head injury, with life-altering repercussions.

Northrup and Sons was fined $20,000 and Charlton was fined $1,000.

January 14, 2020,  All Systems Inc., pleaded guilty to a charge under 235(1) of General Regulation 91-191 under the OHS Act for failing to maintain a piece of equipment in accordance with the manufacturer’s specifications. 

Charges were laid after a material hoist collapsed on the Centennial Bridge project site in Miramichi on November 28, 2017.  All Systems Inc., owned and operated the hoist which had been modified without the manufacturer’s approval; limit switches were missing while others were bypassed.  No one operating the hoist was properly trained. There were no injuries.

All Systems Inc., was fined $7,200.

On January 18, 2019, George Breau pleaded guilty to a charge under Regulation 91-191 subsection 49(1)(a)(i) of the OHS Act for failing to continually use a fall-protection system when working from an unguarded work area that is 3 m or more above water or the nearest permanent safe level.

During a workplace inspection on a project site, a WorkSafeNB health and safety officer observed Breau working within 10 feet of an unguarded flat roof edge of a six-storey structure without a fall protection system.

Breau was fined $800 and was reminded to follow OHS legislation at all times.

On November 19, 2019 Edgar Carrier (doing business as Edgar’s Affordable Roofing) pleaded guilty to an offence under 43(1)(c) of the OHS Act for failing to immediately notify WorkSafeNB when an employee suffered an injury resulting in a fracture. 

Carrier was charged as a result of an incident on September 7, 2018, when an employee fell off a ladder and broke a wrist. The injury required surgery and was reported to WorkSafeNB by the injured employee.

Carrier was fined $1,500.

On July 18, 2019, fire chief Marc Landry, pleaded guilty to a charge under 12(d) of the OHS Act for failing to use the required protective equipment. The charges stemmed from a fire where Landry entered a burning building wearing only street clothes and no personal protective equipment, including no respirator. He also directed several firefighters under his command to enter the building wearing only their bunker gear and no respirators. The former chief was charged both as an employer and as an employee.

Landry was fined $2,000.

On May 15, 2019, Lead Structural Formwork Ltd., pleaded guilty to two separate incidents – one a fatality.

On January 30, 2017, a supervisor was working near an unguarded edge on the fourth floor of a building under construction when he fell to his death. He was trained in fall protection and was wearing a full-body harness at the time he fell but was not anchored and there was no anchor available. Lead Structural Formwork Ltd., was charged under section 95(2) of General Regulation 91-191 of the OHS Act for failing to provide fall protection system and were fined $50,000.

They were also charged as a result of an incident that occurred on February 20, 2017, when a supervisor’s jaw was broken when he was hit in the face by an unsecured chain hook. The investigation uncovered that the tower crane operator did not meet the competency requirements to operate the tower crane. The employer was charged with section 210.1(1) of the OHS Act for failing to ensure that the operator was competent and was fined $10,000.

On April 4, 2019, D-Canaco Trading Inc., pleaded guilty to a charge under section 9(1)(a) of the OHS Act for failing to take every reasonable precaution to ensure the health and safety of its employees. 

 The charges resulted from an accident that occurred on May, 14, 2016. Three employees of D-Canaco Trading Inc. were transferring approximately 25 tonnes of ice from a dump truck into fishing vessels moored at a wharf.  Two of the employees were inside a dump truck.  The dump truck was raised to help move the ice.  The ice slid from the truck, pushing out two workers who were inside the truck, and pushing the dump truck’s back gate open. One employee was thrown into the water and rescued and another suffered a broken nose. The third worker outside the truck suffered minor injuries. 

 An employee of a third party, under federal jurisdiction, died when he was crushed under the ice.

 D-Canaco Trading Inc. was fined $2,500.  

On March 20, 2019, after earlier pleading guilty to a charge under 239(4) of the General Regulation 91-191 under the OHS Act for failing to ensure a piece of equipment was properly locked out, J.D. Irving was fined $80,000.

The charge was the result of a fatal accident at the JDI sawmill in Sussex.

In sentencing, the judge took into account that JDI had invested close to $400,000 in machinery upgrades, employee training, the hiring of three new supervisors to oversee the work area where the incident took place.

On February 28, 2019, FIREADY Inc. pleaded guilty to a charge under section 235 (1) of the General Regulation 91-191 of the OHS Act for failing to ensure a machine is operated in accordance with the manufacturer’s specifications. The charge was a result of an accident that occurred on December 12, 2017, in which three employees, including the owner were badly burned.

The workers entered the boiler room because there was an issue with the boiler’s combustion.  The boiler door was left open while the workers were trying to figure out the boiler problem, when an explosion occurred in the boiler. The manufacturer prohibited the opening of the boiler door while in operation.

FIREADY Inc. was fined $5,000.

On February 12, 2019, Groupe Savoie, who had previously pleaded guilty to a charge under 9(2)(c.3) of the OHS Act for failing t provide adequate supervision, were fined $125,000.

The charge was a result of a fatal accident in which a 17-year-old worker was pulled into a conveyor on December 22, 2016.

During the joint submission to the judge, Groupe Savoie demonstrated that, since the accident, Groupe Savoie had made a significant investment in safety. This included having all of their supervisors attend WorkSafeNB’s two- day supervisor training workshop, participating extensively with WorkSafeNB’s Safety Leadership, and hiring another safety officer.

The judge’s sentence took into account Groupe Savoie’s investment in safety and the fact that these investments would help prevent any such accident from recurring.